1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to three-dimensional modeling apparatuses and methods therefor, media storing three-dimensional modeling programs, and media storing three-dimensional estimation programs, and more particularly, to a three-dimensional modeling apparatus for producing a three-dimensional model of an object of interest, a method therefor, and a medium storing three-dimensional modeling programs.
2. Description of the Background Art
In general, in order to produce a three-dimensional graphics image, a three-dimensional model expressing the shape and texture (color and patterns) of a three-dimensional object of interest is produced.
Conventional three-dimensional modeling methods for producing three-dimensional models include for example silhouette and stereo methods. In the silhouette method, an object of interest is shot by monocular cameras from a plurality of visual points, and a three-dimensional model of the object is produced based on a plurality of resulting silhouettes.
In the silhouette method, however, a three-dimensional model is produced based on the contour of the shot object, any recessed part of the object is hardly expressed.
A method of estimating the shape of an object of interest by voting color information is disclosed by "Estimation of Object Shape and Color by Bidirectional Voting Using Continuous Color Images", Hisayoshi Zaiman et al., 53rd National Meetings of Information Processing Society of Japan (The 2nd half of 1996), pp 2-301 and 302. The method is based on the assumption that the same color should be voted in a surface Voxel. According to the method, however, color voting is conducted using all the image information, and image information in the backside direction is also voted for a surface Voxel. As a result, different colors are usually voted for a surface Voxel. In order to solve this problem, color candidates voted for a Voxel should be selected. For the selection process, the method requires a large amount of memories for retaining all the colors voted. In addition, in order to determine a surface Voxel by extracting the identity of colors among the candidates, the same part should be always shot by the same color. Alternatively, a threshold should be set for determining the sameness of colors. Thus setting the threshold generally involves difficult processes.